Hydro companies responding as bills skyrocket and winter looms

Despite skyrocketing hydro bills, it is unlikely anyone in the Windsor and Essex County will go without heat this winter as area utilities have scrambled to ensure sufficient protocols are in place with homeowners in arrears.

Utility companies in Windsor and Essex County are vowing to do everything they can to keep the heat on this winter for customers who aren’t able to pay their mounting hydro bills.

The problem is drastic enough that Hydro One, which has 37,000 customers in the Essex County area, announced a moratorium on shutting off customers in arrears through the winter months. The company does not disconnect anyone until the end of March.

“We are changing the way we do business, especially how we view and care for our customers,” Hydro One spokesman Ferio Pugliese said Tuesday. “This is one of many changes we will be undertaking.”

Helga Reidel, CEO for Enwin Utilities, said the company moves very cautiously when a customer falls behind on bill payments during the winter months. “We are not going to do anything that puts someone in harm’s way.”

Reidel said the provincial government allows for reduced rates for low-income individuals, and the local utility works closely with the city’s social services department on certain cases.

“When the weather sees temperatures drop, we will try to find ways to work with the customer,” Reidel said.

Essex Powerlines, which has 30,000 customers in the towns of LaSalle, Amherstburg, Leamington and Tecumseh, utilizes load control devices or “load limiters” at residences facing disconnection, said Joe Barile, general manager for the utility.

“We try to balance the need for electricity with the fact an account is overdue,” he said. “When someone reaches the point of disconnection, we have exhausted all avenues.”

Once a load limiter gets installed it allows a homeowner to essentially run a minimum amount of hydro in a home. For instance, a microwave could operate, but it couldn’t operate at the same time the television or stove was turned on.

The load limiters are only used in the winter because non-essential summer hydro is cut off if bills are in arrears. Homeowners with electric baseboard heating are allowed a higher amount of hydro during the winter, he said.

“We try to understand the human side of things,” Barile said. “We are not in the business of turning off power. We try to find a balance in each individual situation and we think the load limiter strikes that balance.”

Already this year, dozens more homeowners have asked for help with their hydro bills compared to last year, said June Muir, CEO of the Unemployed Help Centre, a partner in the Keep the Heat energy assistance program.

“Absolutely we are seeing more people apply,” she said. “They come to us and say ‘how can I afford these bills, they are so high?’ And we have not had a cold snap yet. When that happens we will have even higher demand.”

The Keep the Heat program offers a one-time annual payment to help with a homeowner’s utility bill (gas or electric) based on income and up to a maximum $500.

As of Tuesday, 3,539 households have been assisted by the program for the first 11 months of 2016, surpassing the 3,338 households that received help for all of 2015.

Dozens more homeowners have asked for help with their hydro bills compared to last year, June Muir, CEO of the Unemployed Help Centre, said Nov. 29, 2016.Jason Kryk /
Windsor Star

Muir said the provincial government needs to take additional steps to “make a change for people” so the working poor don’t have to choose between paying their hydro bill and buying food.

“People will not want to get shut off, so they will try to pay,” Muir said. “That will increase their needs from other services such as food banks.”

Muir said a 2016 study by Food Banks Canada shows clients are relying on food banks for not only their grocery needs, but for assistance paying their utilities.

“These programs have impacted hundreds of families that would not have otherwise been able to keep their lights on or even heat their homes without this support,” the report said.

Those same social service agencies are also getting hitting hard by the rising cost of electricity, the food banks report said.

“Many food banks have several refrigerators and freezers on-site, or even industrial-sized cold storage that keeps fruit, vegetables, meat and frozen products fresh until it is ready to be distributed.”

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